A challenge issued by the last remaining MP of the Australian Democrats has divided the party, with some members keen to get on board and others calling for his resignation.

South Australian Democrats MP David Winderlich has threatened to become an independent if the party does not recruit 1,000 more members by November.

The national president of the party is demanding Mr Winderlich's resignation, but the woman he replaced when she retired, Sandra Kanck, says the Democrats should take up his challenge.

Mr Winderlich, 45, is a former teacher and public servant. He replaced Ms Kanck when she retired a year out from the end of her term.

The idea was to give her replacement time to make an impression on the electorate, and make an impression he has, with this announcement.

"This morning I notified leaders within the party that I am giving the South Australian division four months to recruit 1,000 new members or I will become an independent," he said.

The last remaining Democrat MP in the nation says it is the only way to reinvigorate the party.

"I will work with the Australian Democrats to achieve that goal; in fact no-one will be recruiting harder than I will be," he said.

"No-one has more incentive to make this succeed than I do. If the party fails to get 1,000 members, I will be blamed.

"If the party succeeds, I will be a hero. I am sticking my neck on the chopping block for the Australian Democrats."

A wake-up call?

Ms Kanck has been quick to defend her former researcher, saying it is a clever move.

"I think what he's done is he's really taking the fight up to us and saying, 'it's in your hands'," she said.

"He's correct that things have been slowing down in the party, that it takes too long to get decisions made, there's not enough people who are actually playing an active role, and this is a real wake-up call to us.

"I don't know whether Labor or Liberal could get 1,000 members in three months so he really has set the bar very high, but I'm one who's saying, 'well, let's get in there and respond to the challenge he's put to us'."

But not everyone is taking the move so calmly.

The national president of the Australian Democrats, Julia Melland, says Mr Winderlich's actions amount to a betrayal of the party and he should resign immediately.

"We don't accept the ultimatum," she said.

"We're trying to rebuild the party on strong foundations and it's not so dependent on the personalities of MPs.

"We feel that this is where we have problems; the doctrine of our party was too based on that and we're building a stronger, bigger thing now that we don't want to be held to ransom by our Members of Parliament.

"We've got rebuilding in process and we're working on that really hard and we're doing quite well so far, and we don't think that this kind of strategy is helping the cause."

'Slow suicide'

Flinders University Professor of Politics Dean Jaensch says Mr Winderlich has presented an interesting but ultimately almost impossible demand, that will lead the Democrats further down the path to oblivion.

"And here's the last member, after all of that, virtually committing suicide again, because I doubt very much wether they'll be able to collect 1,000 more members by the timeframe he's given them.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all, given the general feeling that the Labour Government in South Australia has become very arrogant indeed; there could be a shift towards independents [in the next election].

"Not necessarily Democrats, but if Democrats can get their act together, get their numbers, find some money, run campaigns, you never know, there might be a way back.

"Federally it's very difficult. Winning Senate seats is not easy and it's going to take more than just 1,000 new Democrat members in South Australia to bring that achievement.

In her resignation from politics, Kelly O'Dwyer said she feared another miscarriage in Canberra, far from home. Her announcement is shocking for more than just party-political reasons, writes Emma A. Jane.